I shook my fist at God today. Inspired by my dear friend Suzanne Kelsey’s book, Skipping Church, I lost my temper and yelled and cried and rebelled. I am doing everything I need to be doing, I sobbed. So why is this road so full of car-eating potholes?  

Well there are no answers (except, probably, to cinch up my seatbelt). But at least I can tell you about Sue’s book. Anyone who has ever gone to church, or who knows anyone who has attended Sunday morning services, should read this. With my born-again Christian background and my experience as a pastor’s wife in Oregon, I find her story especially compelling. One day years into their marriage, Sue’s husband announced he was called to be a Methodist minister. The book is Sue’s story of her own path as she detours around the expected role of a minister’s spouse and embarks on her fierce journey of spirituality, motherhood, writing and teaching in her beloved Iowa. This powerful, open-hearted woman finds her own, intimate way of celebrating life and spirituality in spite of church pressures to conform, and diving into her highly-readable book (and I’m hard to please) is like turning LED lights on in a dark closet. Please go buy it (click on image of my painting above to see the book cover).

[This small abstract, Under the Sea, was another kitchen creation.]

6″ x 8″ ink, acrylic pen, watercolor, pencil, pastel on paper